14 Jun An Ode to Blueberry: 5 Reasons We Love You

We at The Queens Head wanted to extend our appreciation for you and thank you for having us over to your fields at Kirkland Blueberry Farm in Lakeland a few days ago. We had a wonderful time admiring you with our friends and speaking about your lovely color and flavor. Because of you, we will be able to offer our guests a variety of menu specials where you — yes, you — are the star. And because of this interest we’ve taken in you, we’ve learned that you’re not only delicious, but you have incredible health benefits, as well. We wanted to share our gratitude for the following ways you help us:

You make sure we take our vitamins

You, Blueberry, are truly a superfood. You’re packed with so many vitamins that our bodies need and we’re lucky that, with you, they come in such a tasty and portable package. You give us almost 25 percent of our daily dose of vitamin C and 36 percent of our daily dose of vitamin K! You also provide large quantities of vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, vitamin A and more.

You pack a healthy punch

Wow, Blueberry, we had no idea that you were so good to our bodies. Did you know that you’re rated one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world? Your Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) score is a whopping 9,621 for your wild (lowbush) group and 4,669 for your common (highbush) group. Either way, you’re incredibly rich in antioxidants (the highest of all fresh fruit, actually), which help the body:

“Because they contain such a high amount of phenols, particularly gallic acid, blueberries are known as ‘neuro-protective agents.’ According to researchers from Iran, this means that they can literally protect our brains from degeneration, neurotoxicity and oxidative stress.”

We don’t even know what half of those words mean — but they sound important! Here’s some more science about you, dear Blueberry:

In a University of Cincinnatistudy of nine human subjects, researchers found that older adults who were given blueberry juice scored higher on memory tests than those who received a placebo. Blueberries are shown to reverse age-related memory loss on account of their abundance of flavonoids.

You fight the Big C

Cancer. We know you don’t like it, Blueberry. We don’t either. And we really appreciate the ways you help us keep it at bay. Your wonderful gallic acid can kill cancer without harming healthy cells (the way chemo and radiation do). We know that you’re not a magical cure, but you are a warrior. You contain these things called anthocyanins which give you your beautiful color — but they also attack cancer-causing free radicals and can even block the growth of tumor cells. Good looks and a lively personality … gosh, Blueberry, we really like you.

You are good to our heart

We thought it would only be appropriate to conclude this ode to you by speaking about the heart. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Your powers help to ward off this disease by:

Providing high fiber content that helps to lower “bad cholesterol”

Strengthens the cardiac muscles

Teaming up with strawberries to form a superfood tag team that decreases the risk of heart attack by up to 33 percent

All in all, Blueberry, we’re really happy you’re around. We’ve already taken advantage of your culinary (and health) benefits in a few of our dishes, including this Blueberry-braised Pork Osso Buco.

In closing, Blueberry, we’d like to invite our friends and people of St. Pete to come in and experience all you have to offer. New blueberry-centric dishes will be popping up throughout the summer, so we hope to show The ‘Burg all the wonderful power you pack in your tiny blue body.